Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
by Kaitlyn October Snape
Summary: Ash is a transfer student from Durmstrang who is as contrary as he is unusual. But he hides who he truly is behind a mask of brovado. The only time it cracks is around a certain blond Slytherin. DracoxOC Ash is not a Sue. Trust me. Slash, but not graphic.


**Title: **Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

**Pairing:** Draco/Ash

**Author:** Catheryne

**Rating:** PG-13 (at most)

**Warnings:** Slash m/m, innuendo, OC

**Dedication:** For my wonderful Tess.

**Disclaimer:** The characters and places in this story all belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, etc. Except for Ash. He's mine.

**Feedback:** All feedback is accepted. Flames help me with my s'more making, so those can come my way, too.

**A/N:** This is my story for a very good friend of mine that I was introduced to under less than normal circumstances and took quite a shine to. Ash is my own character and don't worry, he's not a Sue. I hate those and so I don't write them.

A seventh year Gryffindor redhead sat by the window in his dormitory, watching the other students emerge from their thestral drawn carriages and scanning the thick crowd of young wizards and witches in training for a head of white blond hair. The young man gave an excited whoop and jumped from his perch in the window seat to go running from the room. Another redhead of the same age watched him go and just shook his head, yelling after his newer friend, "Don't kill yourself on the stairs, Ash!"

Ash just laughed and called back as he scrambled through the portrait hole, "I'll try not to, Ron!" As soon as he was out of there, he ran to the end of the corridor and down a set of stairs to where the grand staircase was. Once there, he calmed his breathing with little difficulty and tried to wipe every emotion off his face but calm indifference, which proved to be a much harder task. He watched the students coming from their Easter break file in and searched again for that same head of white blond hair. This time, when he found it, he contained his little whoop and just slowly descended the stair case, forgetting that he hadn't yet changed back into his school robes.

It seems other people noticed that he hadn't yet changed because the young man found himself the recipient of many an appreciative stare. He fought well against the flush that tried to creep up his cheeks and just quirked a scarred eyebrow at any girl (or boy) who tried to catch his eye, many of which lowered their eyes soon after. He wondered idly why they were staring and looked down at himself to get an idea then blinked. Slowly. _Oh. That's why, _he thought.

He saw the casual red button down shirt with a black cotton wife beater beneath, soft, well worn leather work jeans, and black combat boots that adorned his body. The redhead looked at the black nail polish on his fingers, remembering at the sight of that the light touch of kohl that decorated his eyes and blinked slowly again, this time leaving his eyes half lidded deliberately and smirking at the harsh swallows that got him. He looked around the crowded entrance hall as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs and was immediately frozen where he was, leaning back against a wall as his soft amber eyes were caught by a pale grey stare.

Ash's eyes widened slightly and he was sure he looked like a deer caught in the headlights before he could catch himself. The predator had become the prey he really was for a moment before changing his stance back to that of the confident young man he pretended to be. His pale pink lips curled up in a self-assured smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes as he broke the stare the other had used to pin him with a slow, deliberate blink full of implication. The redhead made his way to the Gryffindor table and once he was sure that no one was watching him after he sat, he let his head fall forward onto his crossed arms, banging it on said appendages a few times.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid_. he thought in time to banging his head on his arms. Ash didn't know how long he could keep up this undeclared war between himself and the blond Slytherin. It was starting to wear him thin and showed to anyone who knew him. Which amounted to a total of one person: himself. His new friends, who could really be called acquaintances, had seen him watching his fellow student and had warned him against having anything to do with him. They gave him many reasons: he's a Slytherin, he's a bully, and, most important to them, he was a Death Eater's son.

Well, Ash being Ash grew more intrigued the more he heard of the pale young man and the more he was told to not bother with him, the more he ran into him. Sometimes literally, other times just passing him in the hallway. He started watching the Slytherin, using all of his training that his father had given him before and during his six years at Durmstrang to his advantage. And to not get caught by his obsession. It wasn't easy. Even with all the training he'd had and the fact that he could have been a Slytherin had he chose, Ash found it hard to tail the blond.

Few knew that Ash almost was in Slytherin. It was expected of him. The males in his family had all gone to Durmstrang, but he wanted to be transferred out of there, mostly because he couldn't stand the jibes about him being a scrawny pretty boy. So, once he'd decided to go to Hogwarts, his family had made it explicitly clear that no son of theirs would be anything other than a Slytherin. So, being his usual contrary self, Ash had asked the hat to not put him in Slytherin. It had been reluctant and shouted its answer. No one was more surprised than the redhead when he was sorted into Gryffindor. _Must've seen that damn cat I'd rescued from my rosebush before I came here..._ he'd thought in disgust.

A silken voice brought him out of his thoughts and he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of it. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking up at the object of his fixation and that he had been asked a question. Ash cleared his throat and adopted an unconcerned drawl, saying, "So sorry. Could you repeat that?"

Draco smirked at the redhead's attempt at nonchalance and repeated, "Something the matter, Sirian? You seem a bit peckish."

Ash just rolled his eyes and replied with the same lack of concern as before, "I'm fine, Malfoy. You needn't worry that bleach blond head of yours about me." He responded to the smirk given to him with one that, this time, reached his eyes.

A look of indignant outrage crossed Draco's face for the second it took to conceal it as he said testily, "It is not bleach blond. It's natural, you carrot top!"

Ash snorted. He loved it when they did this and so he replied in accordance to their little dance around each other, "Whatever you say, oh ye of little..." He left a slight pause, deliberately raising a brow and letting his eyes travel over the other's form before finishing, "comebacks. Now leave me in peace so I can eat my dinner." With that, he turned away and put some roast beef on his plate, effectively dismissing the blond.

He waited until he heard the other young man stomp away to his house table, the blond's back towards the redhead before he slumped in his seat. Merlin, this was tiring. Soon, another redhead plonked himself down beside Ash and said, "So, got into another sparring match with Malfoy, Ash?"

Ash raised an eyebrow but just shook his head, saying, "That obvious, huh?" Ron just nodded at him and began piling food on his own plate. Ash watched him with a wrinkled up nose and excused himself soon after the other redhead had begun to eat. He made his way out of the hall, ignoring the hungry stares he was by now used to getting and let out a weary sigh as he collapsed back against a wall a few corridors away. He banged his head against the wall behind him and mumbled, "Quit being a git, already, and tell him how you feel..."

"Tell _who_ how you feel, Sirian," a familiar voice drawled.

Ash groaned and said softly as he placed a pale, long fingered hand over his eyes, "Just go away, Draco. I'm not in the mood to fight with you." The other didn't say anything for a moment and with another world-weary sigh, the redhead brought his hand away from his face. He took one look at the look of surprise on Draco's face and said a little self-consciously as he squirmed under that grey eyed stare, "What? Have I got catsup on me? Pumpkin juice on my shirt?"

Draco just shook his head silently and said not a word. The two stood there for a moment, not saying anything, not moving, before Ash finally got tired of the deafening silence and started to walk away before he did something stupid. Before he could, though, his arm was caught in a surprisingly strong grip and his eyes trailed up the hand on his arm up to the other's arm to finally looked into his face. "Y-You called me Draco," the blond said softly, surprise coloring his voice.

Ash blanched as he realized that he had and tried to wrest his arm away from the vice grip it was caught in. "So?" he asked, defiant. "Something wrong with that?"

Draco nodded slowly and stepped closer, making Ash take a step back so that he was against the wall again. When the blond spoke, his voice had a slight quiver there that wasn't before, "There's something wrong with the fact that you didn't get hexed ten ways from Sunday for using my name." Ash just quirked a brow at him, so Draco continued, "No one gets to call me Draco. Not even Mother. But yet, I allowed a total stranger who has been following me around...Oh, yes, I knew you were following me." The blond smiled slightly as Ash paled even further. "My only question is, now that I have allowed you to speak my name, let you follow me and most importantly, let you get _away_ with it...What _shall_ I do with you?"

Ash opened his mouth to say, "Let me go," but it didn't get that far. Instead, he was pushed back farther into the wall as Draco's mouth descended on his. The words he'd intended to speak changed into a small whimper as he wound his hand into the surprisingly soft hair on the blond's head. He arched into the kiss, returning it with the same amount of passion in which it was given and felt himself clutched to a tensed, lithe body that towered over his by a few inches.

Ash felt his head tilted back and he tilted it to the side to allow the kiss to deepen, suddenly aware of little whimpering sounds that he soon realized were coming from him. Soon, the need to breathe caught up with the two of them and the kiss was broken, leaving them panting where they stood. "What..." Ash panted before he took a deep breath and tried again, "What was that for?"

Draco smiled down at him and Ash suddenly realized that he was still pinned between the wall and the Slytherin seeker's body. The redhead also suddenly felt as if his days as being a predator were over because a smarter predator than he had finally caught on that he was a sheep in wolf's clothing. His thoughts were confirmed when a husky voice whispered in his ear, "To show you that you don't have to pretend any more. Let go, Ash. Don't hide from me because I'll always know you are." Then a tongue was tracing the shell of his ear and the redhead found that he didn't really care that he had been exposed as an imposter.

What he did find was that someone cared enough to see. Someone cared enough to see him for who he _really _was.

**_Fin._**


End file.
